111 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Padideh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The words a physio says slowly. 88 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Persepolis the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Padideh will enjoy reviewing.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Marked 8.10 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Nobody at Padideh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Padideh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
1 for Mohammad Reza Bordbar, marked 7.80, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Padideh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Saeid Gholizadeh and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
104 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Padideh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Esteghlal Ahvaz will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Padideh were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Naft Tehran go through and Padideh go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.88. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Padideh.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Mehdi Ahmadi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Ashkan Pouraliganji in the middle of it, and Esteghlal Ahvaz unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 26 arrived, 15 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Three points for Padideh, 3‑2 the final word against Tractor in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Mehdi Ahmadi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Padideh ran out of time with Esteghlal Khuzestan. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Saeid Gholizadeh was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Padideh asked and Al-Ra'ed said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
8.13. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Reza Yousefi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A point taken on 96 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Padideh have made the call to Slaven Belupo. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Naft Tehran will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Padideh were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Hajduk Split is saying, and nobody at Padideh is enjoying the guessing.
Ashkan Pouraliganji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 9.92 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Mehdi Ahmadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.75 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Two goals and a mark of 8.84 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match11 Aug 2029
Another one collected away from home
6 on the bounce on the road for Padideh. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nea Salamis have kept their man, and Padideh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Padideh can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Padideh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The deal with Foolad is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Padideh moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Sardar Mohammadi, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Match4 Aug 2029
Another one collected away from home
5 on the bounce on the road for Padideh. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
10 academy players handed senior numbers at Padideh
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Padideh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Hajduk Split for Ashkan Pouraliganji was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Saeid Gholizadeh was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Mehdi Ahmadi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad30 Jul 2029
13 new faces, and Padideh are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Padideh have made the call to Nea Salamis. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Saeid Gholizadeh is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Padideh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Add another name to the list: Hajduk Split have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ashkan Pouraliganji. The answer from Padideh has not changed — yet.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mohammad Reza Yousefi is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Padideh had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al-Fateh, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Ashkan Pouraliganji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Padideh offered $550.0K; Foolad said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Mehdi Ahmadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Fateh have kept their man, and Padideh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Padideh have made the call to Slaven Belupo. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Padideh, and it is not being withdrawn.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Masoud Cheshmi is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Padideh have gone to Foolad with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dynamo Kyiv have kept their man, and Padideh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Padideh asked and Al-Ahli said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The fee is $440.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Rah Ahan drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The offer went to Persepolis this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Mehdi Ahmadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Padideh asked and Hajduk Split said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Saeid Gholizadeh is on it.
Ashkan Pouraliganji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The fee is $140.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Siah Jamegan drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Padideh offered $38.0K; Esteghlal said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ferencvaros have kept their man, and Padideh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ashkan Pouraliganji is on it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Amir Khodadad has his answer from Padideh; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The fee is $390.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Esteghlal drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Di Stefano Castillo is living that version at Padideh, and it tends to show in the first month.
Saipa pay $330.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
The terraces18 Jun 2029
Padideh spend $3.9M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $3.9M for Mohammad Reza Bordbar, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Jaloliddin Masharipov has left for Sepahan in a $45.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad18 Jun 2029
10 new faces, and Padideh are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sepahan waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Padideh is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Padideh asked and Sepahan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The offer went to Persepolis this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Padideh have gone to Esteghlal with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Ehsan Noorafkan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Padideh offered $38.0K; Zob Ahan said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Done, and with games to spare. Next season has floodlit nights against clubs from other countries in it, and the accounts have a line they did not have last year.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Padideh have had the benefit of it.
$230.0K on the table at Esteghlal. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Ashkan Rashedi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The offer went to Foolad this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Nobody at Padideh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omid Hajsafi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 145 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Padideh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Saeid Gholizadeh signs something — a contract at Padideh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Eldorbek Begimov has written the date down.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Padideh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Padideh is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ashkan Pouraliganji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Padideh know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alireza Naghizadeh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Padideh the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I watch every Padideh game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sepahan runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mohammad Shojaei is on it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mohammad Taremi has written the date down.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Nobody at Padideh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Arash Hashemi’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Squad7 May 2029
Ashkan Ghoddos is training like a man with a point to make
Nobody has promised him anything and he has not asked. The coaching staff have noticed, which at this stage of a season is the only thing that matters.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Padideh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ashkan Pouraliganji is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Saeid Gholizadeh signs something — a contract at Padideh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Padideh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padideh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mohammad Daneshgar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ashkan Rashedi is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Padideh know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Padideh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alireza Naghizadeh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Padideh the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody at Padideh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Padideh. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Padideh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Nobody at Padideh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Padideh could ask drops and the wages Jaloliddin Masharipov can ask rise.
The words a physio says slowly. 47 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Padideh, and 5 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Padideh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Saeid Gholizadeh signs something — a contract at Padideh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Padideh. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Padideh is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ashkan Pouraliganji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ashkan Rashedi is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Padideh know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Padideh. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Position 3, 68 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padideh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
29 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Jokl is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mohammad Shojaei is on it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakub Jokl is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Saeid Gholizadeh is on it.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Padideh have no good answer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Padideh. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Padideh could ask drops and the wages Jaloliddin Masharipov can ask rise.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Ashkan Pouraliganji’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Hesam Nafari on the training pitch
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Nobody at Padideh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Masoud Cheshmi is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Saeid Gholizadeh signs something — a contract at Padideh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Padideh, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 68 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ashkan Dejagah will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Padideh the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ashkan Pouraliganji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 34. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Padideh is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Padideh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Malavan; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Level with 92 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Padideh had all but put away. Malavan will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Ehsan Noorafkan will call it something else in private.
A touch he did not want, a bounce he could not have read, and his name in the wrong column. There is no consoling a man after one of these, and Padideh will not try tonight.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Padideh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Padideh close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 6 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Padideh asked and DAC Dunajska Streda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ehsan Noorafkan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Amin Abu Khalifa has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Padideh have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padideh can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Spartak Trnava is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Persepolis keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Ashkan Pouraliganji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sepahan waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Padideh is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Position 3, 55 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Padideh, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padideh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Padideh have done the hard part with Persepolis, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Saeid Gholizadeh provided it, and the 8.70 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Naft Tehran; Padideh go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Padideh asked and Esteghlal Ahvaz said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Saeid Gholizadeh. 2‑0 against Siah Jamegan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Taremi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Persepolis the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Padideh will enjoy reviewing.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Padideh will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Padideh, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mohammad Daneshgar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Masoud Cheshmi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Position 3, 46 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Padideh is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Padideh and Tractor in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Aghaei is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Two goals and a mark of 8.93 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.02 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alireza Naghizadeh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Padideh the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Alireza Naghizadeh has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ashkan Pouraliganji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ehsan Noorafkan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Padideh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Position 3, 37 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Saeid Gholizadeh was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Padideh and Esteghlal Khuzestan in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ehsan Noorafkan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It needed Ashkan Pouraliganji to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Esteghlal, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mohammad Shojaei is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Padideh, another week without a signature from Jaloliddin Masharipov.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Sardar Mohammadi after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Padideh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dilshod Rahmatullayev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Padideh the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ehsan Noorafkan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Half the programme played, position 2, 33 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Saeid Gholizadeh is on it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Padideh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Ashkan Pouraliganji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Padideh and Saba in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Padideh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 3, 29 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Padideh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
6 goals in one match, Saeid Gholizadeh on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Padideh and Malavan.
Saeid Gholizadeh scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑4 to Malavan, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ehsan Noorafkan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Marked 9.88 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Padideh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Padideh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dilshod Rahmatullayev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Padideh the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Masoud Cheshmi at his very best
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Padideh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Padideh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ashkan Pouraliganji provided it, and the 8.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Saeid Gholizadeh and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ehsan Noorafkan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A 2‑0 win over Gostaresh Foulad, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ashkan Pouraliganji is on it.
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Padideh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Padideh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Padideh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Padideh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sardar Mohammadi after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Something was said to Mohammad Mehdi Ahmadi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
55 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Padideh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padideh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9.95. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Padideh and Rah Ahan in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
63 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Padideh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Padideh ran out of time with Esteghlal. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
A 1‑0 win over Esteghlal Ahvaz, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Padideh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Padideh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 17 signed and 17 gone
That is the business done at Padideh until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
$1.3M on the table at Esteghlal. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$890.0K was the most the club would pay and Persepolis were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The words a physio says slowly. 79 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Padideh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer went to Persepolis this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Esteghlal have kept their man, and Padideh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Padideh offered $620.0K; Malavan said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Padideh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 110 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Padideh is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Padideh have gone to Malavan with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 118 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
8.41. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ashkan Rashedi is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
Ashkan Pouraliganji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 34 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Padideh
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Taawoun have kept their man, and Padideh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ehsan Rezaeian has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Padideh had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Baltika, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Persepolis have kept their man, and Padideh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Igor Serrote falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mohammad Shojaei signs something — a contract at Padideh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padideh can pretend not to have heard.
Padideh have gone to Persepolis with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padideh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zob Ahan have kept their man, and Padideh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Serrote is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The offer from Tractor for Ashkan Ghoddos was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Padideh is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Padideh have made the call to Hajduk Split. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The offer from Sepahan for Masoud Cheshmi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al Dhafra keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Ashkan Pouraliganji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Igor Serrote falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Qadisiyah have kept their man, and Padideh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Padideh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Everything agreed with Al Dhafra, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor Serrote was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Ahli have kept their man, and Padideh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Al-Qadisiyah have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
The words a physio says slowly. 38 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ehsan Noorafkan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 3, 58 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padideh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al-Nassr is saying, and nobody at Padideh is enjoying the guessing.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Padideh have gone to Foolad with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Padideh offered $160.0K; Zob Ahan said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Gostaresh Foulad pay $72.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saeid Aghaei was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Ashkan Pouraliganji had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Gostaresh Foulad waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Padideh is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Tractor; Padideh go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Ashkan Pouraliganji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Padideh offered $150.0K; Tractor said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Mohammad Mehdi Ahmadi was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $2.2M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Aghaei is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
Tractor have accepted the money. What Padideh do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Padideh will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The deal with Esteghlal Khuzestan is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Add another name to the list: Anderlecht have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ashkan Pouraliganji. The answer from Padideh has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saeid Aghaei was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ashkan Rashedi is on it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padideh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 May 2028
Saeid Aghaei falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Saeid Gholizadeh is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Padideh, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Masoud Cheshmi signs something — a contract at Padideh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saeid Aghaei was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Padideh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mehrdad Abdi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Padideh the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mohammad Daneshgar and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saeid Aghaei was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mohammad Shojaei is on it.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Padideh would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Padideh have no good answer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Padideh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mohammad Daneshgar and Padideh agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 May 2028
Saeid Aghaei falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Saeid Gholizadeh signs something — a contract at Padideh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Padideh have no good answer.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Padideh, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Reza Hajsafi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Padideh the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saeid Aghaei was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Padideh game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Esteghlal Ahvaz runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Padideh would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Masoud Cheshmi signs something — a contract at Padideh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutHesam Nafari knocks on the manager’s door
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Saeid Aghaei falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padideh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Saeid Gholizadeh and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Saeid Aghaei falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Padideh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Padideh, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Alireza Amirkhani has written the date down.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Saeid Aghaei falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Saeid Gholizadeh signs something — a contract at Padideh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mehrdad Abdi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Alireza Amirkhani has written the date down.
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Padideh could ask drops and the wages Mehrdad Abdi can ask rise.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padideh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Saeid Gholizadeh is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Padideh, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Alireza Naghizadeh has moved up it.
Mohammad Daneshgar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Shojaei was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ashkan Pouraliganji is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Padideh, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Padideh is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ashkan Pouraliganji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Saeid Aghaei falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Padideh would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Amir Khodadad trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Hesam Nafari has written the date down.
In brief
SquadOmid Hajsafi is not doing himself any favours
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A season average of 7.12 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Padideh know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Saeid Aghaei falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jan-Carlo Simić is on it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Saeid Gholizadeh signs something — a contract at Padideh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Padideh, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Padideh is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Reza Hajsafi has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 58 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mehrdad Abdi has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Saeid Gholizadeh was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Three points for Padideh, 1‑0 the final word against Zob Ahan in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Saeid Aghaei falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ashkan Ghoddos did not need any: 8.09, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padideh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ashkan Pouraliganji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Saeid Gholizadeh was at the centre of it, Malavan were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.09, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Marked 9.56 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The match ball belongs to Saeid Gholizadeh, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Padideh until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Marked 9.58 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Padideh who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Two goals and a mark of 9.03 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Padideh asked and Sepahan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Masoud Cheshmi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
In brief
SquadSaeid Aghaei falls out with a teammate over standards
Ashkan Pouraliganji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Saeid Gholizadeh. 3‑2 against Gostaresh Foulad, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tractor have kept their man, and Padideh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Saeid Aghaei falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Padideh have done the hard part with Zob Ahan, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Padideh asked and Tractor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Padideh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The phone has started ringing about Saeid Gholizadeh again, and this time the name on the line is Al Ahly. Padideh are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Persepolis have kept their man, and Padideh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alireza Naghizadeh, and the manager let it.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
Arash Hashemi is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
In brief
The dugoutAlireza Karimi dropped after a run of poor form
The words a physio says slowly. 24 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Padideh have had the benefit of it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Padideh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Padideh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jan-Carlo Simić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Arash Hashemi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Padideh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ashkan Pouraliganji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Tractor left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Mehrdad Abdi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Padideh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 13 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jan-Carlo Simić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Ashkan Rashedi: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 13 matches without defeat is a foundation Padideh did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Omid Hajsafi, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.74
A mark of 7.74 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jan-Carlo Simić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Omid Hajsafi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Padideh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Mehrdad Abdi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Saeid Gholizadeh is on it.
It needed Ashkan Ghoddos to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Esteghlal Khuzestan, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Sardar Mohammadi chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The dugoutMasoud Cheshmi dropped after a run of poor form
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ashkan Pouraliganji provided it, and the 8.93 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Saeid Gholizadeh and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jan-Carlo Simić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Padideh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Sardar Mohammadi kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Two goals and a mark of 9.01 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jan-Carlo Simić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Half the programme played, position 2, 29 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
It needed Ashkan Pouraliganji to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Zob Ahan, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Padideh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
6 goals in one match, Saeid Gholizadeh on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Padideh and Saba.